I Had Seen Castles by Cynthia Rylant

What a heartbreaking story. A young man, just learning who he was, enters WWII. He is changed forever becoming almost an entirely different person.

I generally feel rather indifferent to many Cynthia Rylant picture books, but this is her second chapter book that I have enjoyed. I wonder if she has any light-hearted chapter books? Ones that are not so saddening. As I noted with Missing May, more complete characterization seems to make a difference in my enjoyment of her books. As a first person narrative, I learned a lot about pre-war John and post-war John. Ginny was also fleshed-out, inasmuch as John knew and understood her.

While John's character described little about his life after the war, I still felt like I knew his post-war character. Through his description of himself as a teenager, I learned of his character before he went to war. However, the tone of his description led me to understand that he was very different after the war. He was lonely, scarred, and introspective. He clearly does not identify with himself before the war. In the first chapter, he describes his childhood home in third person, as if he doesn't know the occupants of his own house. In the second chapter, he describes longing for the innocence and simplicity of childhood. Clearly, he is not the same person he was as a teenager.

In one interpretation of I Had Seen Castles, it seems to be about the emotional toil and scarring that results from living through such a terrible war. But, in another interpretation, the book seems to be exploring the morality and justness of war in general. John and many of the other incidental characters are unswervingly pro WWII. Conscientious objectors are looked down upon and John doesn't question why or if he should enlist. He just feels that he should. However, by introducing the character of Ginny, who does not support the war, post-war John and the reader are led to consider whether it was just and right. While Rylant does not answer this question, I was led to consider the complex issue myself. She set the stage for the reader to consider it but chose to leave it up to us to come to our own conclusions. I'm glad she didn't steer my thinking with her own.